Why Sleep Matters + Tips For Better Z’s

Oneirology: the scientific study of dreams

During our waking hours, we are constantly consuming:

• Listening to the news, watching tv, scrolling through Instagram, reading the newspaper –
• oh! and don’t forget, we’re eating, too.
• With the influx of never-ending information, images, and food, we’re becoming stuffed.
• Perhaps, even a tad gluttonous.  

We definitely aren’t trying to limit our exposure because if you can name it, we’re more than likely processing it.

• Coffee?
• Emails?
• Google searches?
• Yes, yes, and definitely yes.

It’s like when you’ve just completed a webpage maze, clicking link after link until you’ve ended up on a site eons away from your original intention. We don’t know how to call it quits because our insatiable hunger for more, more, more, has unlimited resources. Whether it’s the internet, our smartphones, or food, we’re always able to keep ingesting.

If you stop to consider how much we’re forcing into our minds and bodies, you realize just how taxing of a load that can be.

• So how do we lighten up?
• How can we feel full?

We’ll for one, we must actually digest what we’re taking in. This can be literal (for food) and figurative.

• Think about the last book you read or movie you watched.
• Did you relish in the feeling of finishing?
• Did you address the thoughts and feelings that may have come from the ending?
• Were you aware of what you had just consumed or were you immediately thinking of what you could take in next?

All of these actions aid in the proper digestion needed to help us slow down, feel full, and give our bodies and minds a well-deserved rest. Luckily, if practicing waking, mindful digestion isn’t achievable just yet, we’ve got a natural bodily function to help us out: sleep.

Interestingly enough, our REM sleep cycle is also referred to as “paradoxical sleep” because of the physiological similarities to our waking state. It’s during this stage where our brains are most active – REM stimulation originates in the brainstem. Through different research and scans since the 1990s, it’s been confirmed that the forebrain systems connected to emotion showed the greatest activation during REM sleep.

So then you may not find it surprising that it’s during REM that we experience our most memorable and vivid dreams. It’s the time we’ve finally stopped moving our bodies and can naturally internalize the information we’ve received all day long. We try to piece together what’s useful, what serves us, and what we can forget: our brains have basically compiled everything we’ve taken in, thrown it up, and is then attempting to sort through the mess.

This produces the often jumbled up, beautiful, disjointed, and whimsical dreams we can faintly remember the following morning. The dreamy wisps of memories left behind are typically what our brains have labeled as useful and worth retaining. This mental cleanse that happens every single night is crucial to our wellbeing. Without it, our capacity for intake would max out. With this nightly release, we can sustain, we can digest, and we can improve.

Obviously sleep, specifically REM sleep, is necessary to digesting and expelling some of the insane amount of information we are constantly ingesting. If you’re a fitful sleeper, suffer from insomnia, or simply can’t find ways to find rest, prioritizing sleep and a nighttime ritual will benefit you on a physical and mental level.

To get the most out of your nightly release, try using some of these helpful tips:

5 Tips To Better Sleep

• 1. Caffeine Consumption

• Notice if caffeine affects you. That afternoon cup of joe may be what’s keeping you from a restful night’s sleep.

• 2. Set a Schedule

• Create a evening routine. Maybe you’re goal is to be in bed by 10. Start settling your mind an hour before, engage in meditation, yoga, light stretching, showering, etc

• 3. Disconnect

• Release the habit of keeping electronics near you at bedtime. Charge your phone/laptop in another room. Turn off the tv and hour before bedtime. Let your eyes and mind adjust to the natural release of melatonin in the body. Blue light can interrupt that.

• 4. Check the Temperature

• Our bodies naturally experience a decline in body temp while we sleep, however, we may be too warm to initially fall asleep. Choose appropriate pj’s that suit your temperature needs. Lower your A/C, turn on an overhead fan, or remove the top blanket. Find what works for you and stick to it.

• 5. Keep a Journal

• Reduce your busy brain by keeping a journal or notebook right near your bedside so if you suffer from remembering tasks or to-do’s, simply write them down so they will be there for you in the morning. Write them down and let them go for the night

It might be helpful to track your sleeping patterns for a week or two before making adjustments. You’ll want to notice patterns that may have influenced a particularly good or bad night’s sleep. Was it a meal too close to bed? Was it stress from a looming project due the following day? There are a lot of factors that affect our sleep, but it’s worth making shifts and adjustments to reap the mental + physical benefits of a good night’s sleep.